


Adventures in Tea & Falling in Love Pie

by MyGoldenChances



Category: Waitress - Bareilles/Nelson
Genre: Future Fic, Gen, Waitress Future Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 09:12:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13760919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyGoldenChances/pseuds/MyGoldenChances
Summary: Companion drabble piece to Practically Perfect (read first). Jenna and a teenage Lulu have a conversation about love and life.





	Adventures in Tea & Falling in Love Pie

**Author's Note:**

> Another Waitress one-shot offering that I'm posting here from my Tumblr. This is set in the same universe as my fic Practically Perfect, but further down the line. I really wanted to explore Jenna and Lulu's dynamic as Lulu grew up. So this is just something I wanted to get out there.

“No, Joey, try it like this. See?”

The voice, similar to Jenna's own, can be heard from the kitchen as she closes the mud room door behind her, trying to shut out the bitter cold. It's quickly followed by a second voice triumphantly shouting, “I did it!”

Jenna shakes off a few snowflakes from her black peacoat and hangs it up on the family-sized rack on the wall. She slips off her heels and pads into the kitchen.

The sight that greets her is a real picture. Her sixteen-year-old and her seven-year-old, both covered in flour, rolling sugar cookies on the large island counter. Lulu has stolen her favorite yellow apron and hijacked the Kitchenaid, and Joey's face is covered in cookie dough.

“What kind of trouble have we gotten ourselves into?” Jenna playfully chides.

“Mama, look what Lulu taught me!” the young boy bounces excitedly, then grabs a chunk of cookie dough, expertly rolling between his palms and proudly holding out a perfectly shaped ball. “Look, see??”

Jenna laughs, the joy of his enthusiasm over the simplest thing spreading contagiously. “Wonderful job, sweetheart. She taught you well, didn't she?”

“Sure did,” he confirms.

The older woman tilts her head and lifts her eyebrows, looking at her daughter now. Lulu just shrugs and says to her, “I don't know why you're surprised. It's not hard.”

Jenna shakes her head and holds her hands up. “I didn't say anything,” she dismisses, then adds, “But I like this. I like seeing the two of you get along.”

She sets her purse and keys down on the large oak table and navigates around the kids to find the kettle. She listens to the two banter, as brothers and sisters do, and sets to putting hot water on for some tea--a new evening tradition she and Lulu have recently started.

“Where's your dad?” she asks them after a moment, noticing the lack of sound from the living room and the distinct absence of the customary _Welcome home, Madame President_ \--an endearing quip Jack began a few years ago, after Jenna had signed the rights to franchise the pie shop and officially cut the ribbon on the first of three new locations under her new company.

“He's on his way,” Lulu replies, grabbing mitts and turning to the oven. “He called and said his meeting with a client ran late.”

Jenna watches as the girl reaches in and gingerly pulls out a pie with perfectly golden brown crust and a distinctly...chocolate center. A chocolate center with a hint of a passion fruit scent. She cocks an eyebrow at her daughter, “What's that?”

Meanwhile, Joey is blissfully unaware, happily rolling away at the cookie dough.

Lulu sets the pie on the stove top and takes off the oven mitts. “Just something I felt like making,” she hedges. When Jenna shoots her a oh, is that all look, she adds, “I was in the mood to bake.”

Jenna smirks and nods. “Clearly.”

She rummages around in the cabinets for peppermint tea and honey, decidedly not pushing the subject any further. It's while she's grabbing two mugs from their hooks below that Lulu says to her brother, “Hey, didn't you say you had some math worksheets?”

There's a protest from Joey and a, _Shhhh don't tell Mom that._ Jenna takes the hint, though, and turns to her son. “Hey, bud, if you have homework, now would actually be a better time to do it so you and your dad can finish building that train set later.”

Without hesitation, the seven-year-old drops the piece of dough he's rolling on the to the cookie sheet in front of him, and says, “Okay!”

“I’ll call you down for dinner in a bit, and we’ll look over your math afterwards, hmmm?”

The boy nods. Jenna kisses his cheek with an I love you as he passes, then calls, “Wash your hands and your face first!” as he takes off to his bedroom, receiving a distant I will in return.

The room is silent while Jenna pours tea and stirs in the honey, and Lulu places the first batch of cookies in the oven.

Lulu blushes, taking a sip of tea to hide her face and shrugging. Her mother leans against the counter, taking a sip of her own tea, keeping her eyes fixed patiently on her.

“So,” Jenna offers the teenager a mug while she begins her probing, “you wanna tell me what--or whom--has my little girl suddenly trying her hand at Falling In Love Pie?”

When Lulu doesn't respond, Jenna tries, “You know you can tell me about anything, right? I'm not here to judge you or make fun of you.”

The redhead looks away, then back at her mother, and sighs. “Do you promise?” she asks.

“Baker's honor.” Jenna holds up a hand as if being sworn in. Lulu is quiet again, however, so she probes a bit more. “Is it a boy?” No response. “A girl?” she tries.

_How in the hell are teenagers this difficult to pry information out of?_

Finally, Lulu shakes her head and begins to ramble. “No, it's not a girl. But he's not exactly a boy either--well, okay, he _is_ a boy, he's definitely a boy, but I don't even know if it means anything, and why am I even talking about this?”

The redhead finally takes a breath, releasing it in a huff and quickly turning away. Jenna watches as her daughter walks a few feet and stops to sip her tea.

“Well, it must mean something if you're making a pie for him,” the older woman points out. “And you're talking about this because you're probably feeling a lot right now, and you're not sure how to process it all.” There's a pause, then, “Am I right?”

Lulu's shoulders drop, and she nods, turning back around to face her mother. “Yeah, you're right,” she admits.

Jenna nods and reaches out to stroke her arm, placing a kiss on her forehead as she walks past her, “Come on, let's go sit. You can tell me all about it.”

Once the two are settled at the table, Jenna waits for Lulu to fill in the blanks. She learns quickly that the boy's name is Skylar, that he's only a grade above Lulu, and the two met in their creative writing club.

“He's so sweet,” Lulu gushes, “and he's such a good writer. Ms. Evans made him the senior leader, and he gets to help choose our portfolio pieces for competition. He loved my poetry collection and said he's going to put several of them in. He’s even going to try to push for me getting senior leadership next year.”

Jenna smiles, beaming with pride for a moment at the thought of her daughter's work. Then a new thought occurs to her: “He's graduating?”

Lulu nods. “He's been accepted everywhere he applied to school, but he wants to stay in town for a year and take his basics at the community college.”

“So, what does that mean for you?” Jenna asks pointedly.

The girl shakes her head. “I don't know yet. But we've been talking a lot, and I think he wants to wait for me to see what happens.”

Jenna's stomach churns then, and alarm bells begin to go off in her head. Still, her daughter is smart, and she seems to know what she's getting into, so she patiently asks, “Did he tell you this? Have you guys talked about dating at all?”

“We have a little. But, mom…” Lulu looks off to the side and runs her hand nervously through red curls. “I don't know if I'm ready for this. I don't know if it's a good idea, or if we like each other enough to start dating when we both only have a year to make huge decisions.”

Jenna nods. “That's reasonable.”

“Not to mention, people change a lot after high school.”

At that, Jenna nods harder, sudden flashes of a 19-year-old Earl Hunterson sweetly playing guitar for her quickly growing into a 22-year-old Earl telling her, _Baby, just leave the singing to the musician here, okay? And go grab me a beer._

“Yeah,” she says, "they certainly do change at that age.”

There’s a pause while they both take sips of their tea.

Jenna watches her daughter for a moment, trying to gauge where she’s at. Up until now, Lulu hasn’t really shown any serious interest in dating--just a crush here and there.Now that her little girl is growing up and making surprisingly mature--albeit sudden--decisions, she isn’t sure how to feel. So, she lets Lulu take the lead.

“I really like him, though,” the sixteen-year-old confides. “He actually listens to me, and he gives me the time of day when other boys won’t. He’s encouraging. He’s smart. He’s a great kisser. We share a lot of the same interests.”

Jenna can only smile and nod, thankful that her daughter has found someone who makes her happy. She likes to hear words like _encouraging_ , and _smart_ , and...great kisser?

_Wait, what?_

“Whoa, whoa, now _wait_ a minute,” the older woman shakes her head to clear it, to convince herself that she really heard what her daughter just said. “Back that up a little. What’s this about a great kisser?”

Lulu’s eyes grow wide and she flushes red. _“Mom!”_

“You were the one who offered up the information,” Jenna notes, then shifts in her chair to lean in closer, her elbow on the table now. “I’m just wondering when my daughter had her first kiss and never told me.”

“It was once,” Lulu insists, fiddling with her hands and looking away, “and it didn’t really...mean anything at the time. A bunch of the writing kids dared us.”

Jenna leans back in her chair now, crossing her arms and legs. “So, when was this illicit dare kiss?” she asks with an amused grin. While she doesn’t relish in embarrassing her daughter, she can’t help but take a little joy in how adorably flustered she is.

Lulu refuses to make eye contact with her when she says, “A couple of months ago, at Lacey’s birthday party at her family’s lodge.” She looks up at Jenna at that and, when the older woman just raises an eyebrow as if to say go on, she continues, “They were all decorated for Christmas, and I’m pretty sure some of the other kids snuck in some mistletoe to set us up.”

Jenna nods. “So, they already knew, they decided to give you a little push, and that’s what started all of this?” she surmises.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Lulu signs and takes a long swig of her tea.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jenna asks, amusement turning into hurt, if she’s being honest. “We tell each other everything. That’s like our _thing_.”

Lulu shrugs. “I guess I just didn’t know how to tell you,” she admits. Jenna tilts her head questioningly, and the redhead explains, “You just...you’ve never really been encouraging about me dating.”

“What do you mean?”

Lulu purses her lips and glances around, as if searching for her words. Finally, she says, “You have this way about making it sound bad, if that makes sense. Like, if I mention that a boy is cute, you’ll make an off-handed negative comment. Or if we meet up with Becky or someone we haven’t seen in a while and they ask about any boyfriends, you make jokes about not letting me date until I’m thirty.”

“Sweetie, all parents do that.”

“I mean, sometimes, but the way you do it just makes me feel like you’d rather I not even bother.”

Lulu’s words stir something in Jenna. A slightly sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wants to protest, to argue that she has never been anything but supportive of her--and she has, by and large, supported her daughter’s endeavors and encouraged her to explore the things that make her happy. However, she can’t shake the fact that her sixteen-year-old has a point. The idea of Lulu tying herself to anyone, especially at this age, terrifies her.

_You just don’t want her to end up like you did for so long._

It’s been the mantra she’s justified to herself so many times. Hoping and praying that Lulu would hold off as long as she could before giving in to that natural human desire for companionship. Hoping things like sex and romance would repulse her until she was at least in college. (Or out of college; out of college was preferable.)

However, it seems, that is not the case. Her little girl is, whether she likes it or not, becoming a woman.

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry,” she says on a breath. “Truthfully, I didn’t realize I was doing it.” The reaches for Lulu’s hand, grazing her thumb gently over it, and looks her in the eye when she tells her, “I love you so much, and I want you to be happy. You deserve the best. And I know sometimes I get to thinking that I always know what that is for you, which is a mama thing...but I want you to be able to look back on your choices and feel good about them. I went through hell at your age and a for a long time after that--you know that. I always want better for you than I had.”

“Mom, I _have_ better,” Lulu implores, leaning closer to her, taking her hand with both of hers now. “I have you, dad, and Joey. I’ve got really great friends. I’m doing so well at school and in writing club. If Skylar or anyone else I go out with turns out to be the scum of the earth, I have so much more to fall back on and look forward to.”  She smiles and adds, “You did well, Mom. You made me smart and strong, and you’ve come so far.”

Jenna’s smiling too now. “ _We’ve_ come so far,” she corrects, leaning over to place a kiss on Lulu’s forehead.

“So can I invite Skylar for dinner tomorrow then?” the teenager asks, her eyes shimmering, pleading.

_Speaking of dinner..._

Jenna picks up both of their mugs and stands to go scavenge the kitchen for something quick to whip up, but not without saying, “That would be wise, yes. If he’s going to be around, even as just a friend, I’d like to actually get to know this boy.”

Lulu beams excitedly, “I’ll go call him now!”

She pulls her cell phone out of her pocket, already pulling up her contacts as she scurries out of the room. Jenna watches, noticing the way she lights up.

Memories of a tiny pink bundle flash through her head. Soon, memories of curly red pigtails, afternoons in the kitchen dreaming up pies, and a much smaller Lulu dancing around with Ogie, Dawn, and Becky follow. Now, those curly pigtails have been replaced with side braids and hair products, afternoon baking has been replaced with evening tea, and dances with Ogie, Dawn, and Becky have been replaced with gossip over coffee and pie.

 _Soon,_ the thought occurs to her, _she won’t need me anymore._

She knows it’s a silly notion. A child never stops needing her mama, even when she’s grown. Still, it’s bittersweet, the idea that her daughter is growing up with the entire world at her disposal, getting that much closer to being ready for life on her own.

At least her son still has some time, although he’s going to be a completely different story.

Jenna is proud, though. She’s proud of her children and what she’s created, even if the road to get here was an awful one. They won’t have to fight the battles that she fought, and they will always, beyond a shadow of a doubt, feel loved and protected.

 _They’re going to be fine,_ she realizes. _They’re going to be more than fine._


End file.
